In this paper we present an overview of the process of mapping and field surveying of an area of ancient fields and irrigation canals around the pre-Hispanic sites of Topaín, Paniri and Turi, in the Andean highlands of northern Chile. As opposed to the usual conditions for prospection in temperate or tropical regions, where the surface visibility of archaeological features is often poor and confusing, here the extreme aridity of the landscape has permitted an extraordinary degree of both preservation and visibility of the fields, canals and other constructions. A field methodology based on a combination of an aerial approach (with relatively low-cost resources: high resolution satellite images, GIS, UAV) and field survey has allowed us not only to document the sites but to

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This article presents a characterization of polished thinwares found at the site of Coyo Aldea contextualized by recent scholarly advances in the transition between the Formative and Middle Periods (ca. AD 100-700) in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, and the Andes. In particular, we explore polished household thinwares by juxtaposing them against similar polished vessels common in local graves. Clarifying variation within residential types and between these and burial types allows us to better understand household ceramic consumption at this time and the potential ritual role burial ceramics played in defining new social complexity. This work prompts us to look again at how local material culture functioned in the negotiation of power in the mortuary context while reinforcing the persistent need for more systematic excavation of household contexts.

This article investigates the mechanisms by which different communities were articulated during the Late Intermediate period (ca. AD 1000–1450) in the Río Grande de San Juan Basin, also called the Chicha Region, located in the border region of Bolivia and Argentina. Through analyses of systems of pottery production, circulation, and consumption, we examine interaction networks, social integration, and alliance building at a regional level. Yavi-Chicha pottery from two sites in the Chicha Region—Chipihuayco, in the Talina Valley (Bolivia), and Finispatria, in San Juan Mayo (Argentina)—provide key insights into regional integration and constellations of practice through their localized technological style and shared consumption strategies. This study reveals that people of Finispatria incorporated the entire Yavi-Chicha-style household assemblage—partly produced in Chipihuayco, partly in Finispatria, or partly at some unknown location—into their everyday lives. We argue that the entire household ceramic repertoire of the study region played a fundamental and socially integrative role as it circulated across the region.

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